Maryvale gymnasts younger but showing improvement

In the Maryvale gymnastics program since seventh grade, senior Karisa Poczciwiski has seen the team only get younger and younger as she got older.

But that doesn’t mean she hasn’t seen vast improvement from the gymnasts around her.

“This year has been a lot better [than recent years],” said Poczciwiski. “We’re younger, but we’re more skilled gymnasts.”

This year’s Maryvale’s gymnastics team is made up of 22 girls led by five seniors and a sectionals contestant.

“The seniors have been really great,” said Shanna Buscaglia, the assistant to head coach Margaret Buscaglia, who has been coaching gymnastics at Maryvale for over 20 years.

“They’ve made a huge contribution to the team,” she added. “They all have heart and knows what it means to be a team player and they’re great leaders.”

Senior Michaela Barone, who has competed on the balance beam during her four years on the squad, is impressed with the work ethic and chemistry.

“This year we’ve worked a lot harder than previous years,” said Barone. “All the new girls that came on were willing to try new things. They interacted great with all the upperclassmen and made for a good year.”

Competing in the floor exercises, junior Ashley Rossi is the only Flyer to qualify for sectionals this season, which will be held on Nov. 3 at Frontier.

“Making it to sectionals for our girls is a huge accomplishment because most of them don’t do club gymnastics,” said Buscaglia. “She’s really excited. It‘s her first time ever. She’s an excellent dancer and has really good jumps and form.”

Last week, Rossi, along with multiple others girls from the team, competed in events they usually do not attempt during the last meet of the year, the Halloween Invitational in Clarence.

Maryvale is only able to host one home meet per year. This season it was held on Oct. 17, which displayed most of the Flyers’ best performances.

“Our home meet was really nice,” said Buscaglia. “We got a lot of support from the spectators, parents and students. The girls did really well. Everyone is always pumped up and supportive of each other for our home meets.”

“The home meet was one of out best because we’re all used to everything,” said Jocelyn Strohm, a fifth-year all-around gymnast in her junior year.

The personal bests came about despite the lack of necessary equipment, which includes a wrestling mat for a spring floor that the girls dance, flip and tumble on.

“It just goes to show that it doesn’t always matter what the equipment is like,” said Buscaglia. “Just putting your heart, soul and dedication into it. We were really impressed at that meet.”